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Mitch Duncan shapes as a future top Cat

AFL columnist

Top Cat: Mitch Duncan performs at a consistently high level. Photo: Getty Images

Geelong footy club has been putting on quite a show for a number of years now.

The Cats have been blessed with a bunch of show-stopping superstars who turn any game they're involved in into a genuine showpiece occasion.

Have a think about it. The Cats faithful have been witness to the likes of Gary Ablett, Joel Selwood, Stevie Johnson, Jimmy Bartel, Paul Chapman, Matthew Scarlett, Corey Enright and Harry Taylor.

They could all end up in the AFL Hall of Fame, and have provided unbelievable highlights for not only Geelong fans, but football fans in general to marvel at over an extended period. Collectively, they represent all of the qualities that we like to think makes our game unique and so eminently watchable.

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Skill beyond comprehension, audacious risk taking, toughness bordering on nastiness, leadership that inspires, courage that frightens and consistency that is coveted. All over an extended period of time.

And more recently it has been Steven Motlop, Allen Christensen, Tom Hawkins and, ever so fleetingly, Daniel Menzel who shape as those most likely to continue to carry the torch for this incredibly entertaining, successful and respected football club.

But with every great show, the strength often lies in the support cast. These are the performers who consistently turn up and produce quality work every time they are on stage and, while they may not grab the attention of the headline performers, they are every bit as appreciated and respected by those they work with as any of the A-list set.

When the above-mentioned group went about their imperious best, it was the likes of Joel Corey, Darren Milburn, Max Rooke, James Kelly, Tom Lonergan, Andrew Mackie and previous skippers Cameron Ling and Tom Harley who enabled them to be as good as they could be by attending to the fundamentals and basics so selflessly and efficiently.

Which is why I just love the way Mitch Duncan has gone about his football in his 83 games. Recruited from Western Australia, he returns to his home state this weekend to take on Fremantle, having been fully indoctrinated into the Geelong way of taking care of business.

What is impossible to answer is whether Duncan was a Geelong-style footballer when he was recruited, or whether he has become that way since he arrived at the club.

What is undeniable is that he is the embodiment of the support cast of players who have gone before him. He has the steadiness of Milburn, the running ability of Corey, an appetite for tackling akin to Kelly, the attack on the footy of Rooke, the unflappable nature of Lonergan and the ability to kick long goals that has punctuated Mackie's career when he has ventured forward of the centre.

After playing eight games in his debut season, he has been on a very steady upward curve. He played in the 2011 premiership side in just his second year, and has got better each year.

He had a very good 2013, where he took a step out of the shadow of his more illustrious and seasoned teammates. That he finished only ninth in the best and fairest surprised me, but he was only 16 votes off a top-five finish and 33 behind the winner, Selwood. Remembering, however, this is a football club that is so studded with quality players that the mercurial Johnson, despite finishing just three votes behind Gary Ablett in the Brownlow - having missed six games - couldn’t crack it for a top-10 finish in the Cats' best and fairest.

Having been elevated into the Cats' leadership group this season, Duncan is giving every indication that the succession plan that has seen Ling replace Harley, and Selwood replace Ling, is not about to suffer for lack of options.

Duncan shapes as a future captain. He will have to bide his time, for Selwood has the job for as long as he is inclined, but in the meantime, this young man will continue to learn and absorb the lessons from arguably the most inspirational skipper in the game, and you get the feeling he has all the qualities that would ensure a seamless transition when the time came.

What has become most apparent, when watching the Cats and Duncan over the past few years, is that he has become so predictably reliable as a footballer. That may not be the sexiest description of a footballer, when you compare it to the platitudes that are bestowed on the likes of Johnson and co, but you can be assured that they are traits revered and appreciated every bit as much by his coach and teammates.

On a scale that I rate as important as any, that is, "the know what you are going to get each week" scale, Duncan sits among the very top group. The gap between his best and worst is very narrow, and he fronts up, week after week with the same extreme effort, the same willingness to run himself to near exhaustion and the same sense of "team before individual".

But he is much more than just an honest battler. He is so clean under pressure, and while we are bombarded with, occasionally, meaningless stats in trying to assess a footballer, not fumbling and being capable of taking the ball cleanly in heavy traffic and dispensing with it efficiently may not appear on the stat, but it separates those who can handle the heat and those who can't.

He is a prolific mark-taker, and once in position, his eyes never leave the football. And he has consistently been able to come up with a clutch goal when the Cats have needed it most.

When such immensely talented teammates surround you, the danger can be that you become more spectator and admirer, than participant. Not so the case with Duncan. He plays unapologetic football, and if he has to run over the top of one of his more feted teammates to get to the ball, then he does it without hesitation.

It can take some time to arrive at this place in your career, where reputations mean less to you than what is right for the team, and he has arrived at that place in a very short period.

There is no sense of being along for the ride with Duncan. He rows his side of the boat every bit as aggressively and with underrated skill every time he pulls on a Geelong jumper.

So much so, the time is coming, if it's not already here, where he jumps from the support cast, and becomes a headline act himself.